Red To Grey
by tabsyp.33
Summary: Heather spent her whole life in a care home, until she met Hilly, a CHERUB agent sent on a recruitment mission. The story of her first few months at CHERUB, through Basic Training! I will add more chapters soon! Please read and review! :)
1. Heather

**Hi! Please, if you like this story Read and Review! Sorry if you think the the chapters are short, I will try and make them a bit longer for each new chapter I write! Please be patient, I will try and add more chapters when I can, but it's slow progress writing a story!**

**:)**

1. Heather

Heather sighed. She was back in her old room at the care home, after another short stint with some foster parents. At 10 years old she was exceptionally bright with an extraordinary IQ, very good-looking and very sporty. She had everything most people wish for except for one thing - she had no parents. She had been born in hospital; to a woman no one knew the name of, who'd run off into the night, leaving Heather in the hands of Social Services. Her room looked as it always did, the care home never gave her any money to paint the walls or get a new carpet, in fact they never spared any expense on her at all. They gave her £3 a week to spend on little things, like sweets and stationery and bought her the necessary clothes she needed like school uniform, a winter coat and jeans. Additional clothes like tops and pyjamas were bought using a £7 clothes fund, which fed into a bank set up in her name.

There was a drip coming from above and Heather looked up to see a rapidly growing patch of damp form above her desk. It must've come from the broken shower, which nobody had bothered to fix. She looked down at the picture she was drawing, but couldn't bothered to carry on, so she scrunched it and chucked at the bin. It hit the rim and bounced out, but Heather had no energy to pick it up. Checking her watch she saw that it was already 9 o'clock, so she headed over to her bed, slipped on her nightdress and fell into a deep sleep.


	2. Hilly

2. Hilly

It felt so good, she thought as she finally pinned that stuck-up boaster, Percy Slater, to the dojo floor. The grin had finally gone from his always smug face, as he writhed, helplessly, under her firm grip.

"Hillllllly," he squealed, " Let me go…"

"No way, I'm gonna make you suffer, Loser, for all the times you hurt me in karate lessons."

"I'm sorry, just let me go. Please, I'll never hurt you again, I'm sorry Hilly, honest."

"Didn't you? It always looked as if you did!" she growled menacingly, tightening her grip, before kicking him in the knee as hard as she could; whilst Percy scrunched up his face in pain.

"Please stop Hilly! I won't tell anyone about this and won't bully you again, JUST LET ME GO!" he shouted defiantly.

"Ok," she said, loosening her grip. Percy heaved a sigh of relief, but Hilly wasn't finished. She kicked him in the guts with all the force she could muster, before grabbing her bag and walking out of the dojo, away from the sad sobs and moans coming from Percy.

The initial great feeling of revenge had worn off by the time Hilly entered the Junior Block, and it was replaced by guilt. Hilly felt more ashamed than she ever had by what she had done to Percy and regretted it more than anyone could imagine. She had been a bully, and from that moment she made a vow that she would never ever be again.


	3. The First Meeting

3. Heather

Her alarm clock was the last thing Heather wanted to hear as she opened her eyes, that Monday morning. She had left her window open the night before and a chilly March breeze had wafted in. Reluctantly climbing out of her cosy bed, she slipped on the striped shirt, grey jumper and grey skirt and tights that were her school uniform and headed down to the kitchen.

Breakfast was already laid on the table, when she got downstairs, but there was only one person sitting down. Heather had never seen her before. This wasn't a surprise though; there were always people coming to the home for a few weeks before leaving. Nevertheless, as the girl looked her age, she thought she would introduce herself.

"Hi," Heather held out her hand, the girl shook it and smiled gratefully, probably because someone had noticed her. "I'm Heather and you are-?"

"Hilary, but everyone calls me Hilly! Are you going to Green Lane School as well? It's just that you're wearing the same uniform they made me put on! Ghastly isn't it!"

Heather laughed. "You've only had it on a few minutes, I've been wearing it for the past 5 years! How come you're here?"

"My parents died when I was a baby, and I was just staying with some foster parents before we had a HUGE row, but there were no spaces at the nearest care home, so here I am! Have you lived here all your life?"

"Yeah, no-one knows who my father is and my Mother ran away hours after I as born…"

"That's terrible!" gasped Hilly.


	4. The Perfect Recruit

4. The Perfect Recruit

As the day wore on, Hilly became more and more certain what a brilliant agent Heather would make; she was very sporty, extremely bright, she didn't give in to the constant teasing about being an orphan, and she was very easy to get on with.

After the two girls got back to the care home Hilly made the decision to call campus. She excused herself to the bathroom, locked the door and sat down.

"Meryl," she spoke softly into the phone, "It's me Hilly."

"Hilly!" came Meryl's voice back down the line, "How's it going?"

"Brilliant, I've made a friend called Heather-"

"Heather Jones?" asked Meryl. "We've already got her down as a potential recruit!

That's why we chose to place you in this particular home."

"That's her!" squealed Hilly excitedly. "She really sporty, and intelligent and so easy to get on with!"

"I'll come down to pick her up, and if she joins you could be back on Campus in a

few days!"

"Yay! I hate this place….."

"I'll be down at four to pick her up, try not to let her go anywhere!"

"Shouldn't be a problem, Meryl, she's just along the corridor doing her homework! See you soon, bye!"

"Bye Hilly!-" And the line went dead.

**Hi! This is my first FanFiction and I hope you like it! I apologise if you are finding the chapters the chapters a bit short!**

**And for those who don't know CHERUB that well, Meryl is a carer/handler at campus in charge of a number of agents and agents-to-be!**

**Please keep reading...**


	5. Campus

5. Campus

_Needles, screams, vans, needles, van, needles, injections….._

Heather sat up suddenly; she had broken out into a sweat. Her sheets were twisted around, where she had been thrashing and lashing out, in the midst of her nightmare. She was in a room that was not at the orphanage, or anywhere else she had stayed before. It must be a hospital she thought to herself, suddenly worried. It didn't look like a hospital; there was no medical equipment.

It was only when she swung her legs out the bed and stood up, that Heather noticed some clothes on the floor. There was a pair of military style trousers, a pair of combat boots, a vest, some socks and an orange t-shirt with a winged baby sitting on a globe, and the initials CHERUB on the floor. Looking at the clothes made her realize that she was naked so she slipped them on as fast as she could.

She stepped into a busy corridor, with a lot of young children and teenagers. They were all wearing different coloured t-shirts, which all said CHERUB on them. Plucking up all her courage, she tapped the shoulder of a boy wearing a navy shirt, around the age of 15.

"S'cuse me, but do you know where I am meant to be going?" The boy gave her a pitiful smile.

"Sorry, can't talk to Orange" He said, with an Australian twang to his voice, but he did point to the lift and signaled down two floors.

"Thanks," Heather said and walked over to the lift. It opened and she stepped inside, pressing the ground floor button. Luckily there was no one else in there. When the lift doors opened, she saw a Reception desk and headed over.

"Hi, but I don't know what I am doing here?"

"Heather! Mac is expecting you, follow me, please." Heather nodded, slightly intimidated by who 'Mac' was, and what on earth this place was!"

**If you like the story so far, please review and I will add more chapters! :)**


	6. The Tests

**Hello! I hope you like this chapter it is considerably longer than the others as I felt it should be detailed. I hope you like it and if you do, please review! There were meant to be dividers between the tests, but the Doc Manager took them out. If you are finding it hard to read, I will put some in. :)**

**I have just made some minor changes and I will be adding a new chapter very soon. Please read and review. :)**

6. The Tests

"Heather! I'm Zara.

"Hi." said Heather, smiling uneasily. _What was this place? A boarding school, perhaps? But why would she be here?_

"Welcome to CHERUB! I'm sure you have lot's of questions, but if you let me talk, then I'll answer after, OK?" Heather nodded. "Good. This might come as quite a shock to you, but CHERUB is a branch of MI5-"

"What?" asked Heather.

"As I was saying," continued Zara, "CHERUB is a branch of MI5 that uses children to spy on adults,"

"Why?" interrupted Heather, "Can't you just use adults, it's wrong to force a child too!"

Zara smiled. "We don't force you too, Heather. You have a choice in this, if you don't want to stay, we can get you adopted."

"Really?"

"Yes. But I hoped you might consider staying. Here at CHERUB we offer brilliant teaching in a wide range of subjects, almost all pupils take their GCSEs early and many of our agents go on to leading universities. We teach up to 3 or 4 languages, and you learn a whole range of life skills. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity?"

"You are selling it quite well!" laughed Heather. "What do I have to do to come?"

"I knew you'd want to come!" said Zara, a relieved look on her face. "There are 5 tests, and if you pass, you can become an agent. But only if you get through Basic Training, which some call '100 Days In Hell', but don't worry about that."

Zara walked Heather into a Japanese style building. It looked very modern and traditional at the same time.

"The first test is a fight. Heather, I would like you to meet Martin." The two shook hands. "The winning person is the person who wins five submissions. To submit, you must either tap on the mat, or speak. Take your places, and go!" She blew the whistle.

Heather walked forwards uncertainly. Martin took a swing at her and she blocked easily. _Perhaps this was going to be easier than she thought?_ But then Martin jabbed her in stomach, so hard she had to double over in pain! It was agonizing, but she had to stay strong. She got up and launched a roundhouse kick, straight into Martin's chest. He fell to the floor.

"I submit."

"Heather, 1, Martin, 0. Go!" She called.

Martin jumped, smashed his fist into her nose and swept her feet off the ground. There was blood rushing out of Heather's nose as she tapped her hand on the mat to signal that she wanted to submit.

"1 all. Go!"

The two got up shakily, but before she knew what was happening, Martin had her arm in an armlock.

"Submit, or I'll break it!" He said menacingly.

"I submit." Squealed Heather, sighing with relief as Martin let go of her.

"Martin, 2, Heather, 1. Go!"

With every ounce of strength she could muster, Heather launched forward, pushing Martin over.

"I submit!" He cried.

"2 all. Go!"

Martin got up and started sending flying kicks everywhere. Within two minutes Heather had submitted twice, and Martin had won.

"Well done!" Zara congratulated both of them. "I was really impressed with that you two. Martin get to your next lesson and Hilly, follow me."

The next test was in a room with about ten desks, all in neat rows. At one were an exam paper, a pencil and a rubber.

"Sit down," said Zara. "You will have 40 minutes to do the paper, good luck."

Heather sat down and opened up the paper, it seemed like an average paper of some maths questions, a story and some verbal and non-verbal questions. Heather did the story first as she knew it would take the longest. She then did the verbal questions and the maths. She had only got through half of the non-verbal when a buzzer went off.

"Times up." said Zara. "Hand your paper in and follow me." Heather gave the paper over and they walked into a little study to the side. On the desk was a fluffy rabbit in a cage. They sat down.

"Heather, I would like you to kill the rabbit."

"WHAT? No way? What sort of test is this?"

"Why don't you want to kill the rabbit?"

" Because I'm vegetarian."

"OK." Said Zara. "You can go off and enjoy your lunch, just follow the path to the canteen, and I'll meet you back in my office for the last two tests."

Heather was stood outside Zara's office. The lunch had been good, much better than what she'd eaten at the care home or school.

"Come in!" called Zara.

Heather walked in and sat down, where Zara gestured her to.

"Did you have a nice lunch?" she asked.

"Yes, thanks."

"That's good, ready for the next test?"

"Yep!" said Heather nervously.

"OK, come with me."

They went outside and got in a golf buggy. Heather smiled when Zara offered for her to drive.

"Yes, please!" Zara directed her to what looked like a building with a swimming pool.

They walked in.

"At CHERUB we have four pools, a diving pool, a learners pool, a training pool and a leisure pool. We'll be going to the diving pool."

They walked through a set of doors, into a corridor; at the end Heather could see a glimpse of water. They headed in.

"So, this is what I would like you to do. Go on the 5 metre diving board, jump off, dive down and pick up the two diving bricks on the bottom."

"Fully clothed?" asked Heather.

"Yes." replied Zara.

Heather walked up to the board and started to climb the stairs. Her hands were shaking; she'd never jumped of a diving board before. She knew she could swim though. She stepped out tentatively, heart pounding as she slowly walked down the board. She curled her feet over the edge and on 3..2..1.. she jumped.

The sensation was incredible, until she hit the water, with a huge splash. She swam up to the top, spluttering and gasping. She drew in a huge breath and dived down. She felt along the bottom until she felt the two bricks, then picked them up and kicked as hard as she could, struggling. At last she broke out onto the surface and swam to the edge.

"Well done!" smiled Zara. "Just the final test left!"

Heather was looking up at a huge assault course. It was so high up in the sky that it was sending shivers down her spine. A girl was stood at the gate wearing a black shirt. She looked about 15. They walked over.

"I'm Lauren," she smiled, "You must be Heather?"

"Yes," replied Heather.

"Not scared of heights are you?"

"I didn't think so, but I might have just changed my mind!"

Lauren laughed. "You'll be fine! Just follow me and don't look down."

The two girls set off, climbing up a rope ladder. It wasn't physically tiring, but as it swung from side to side, Heather was constantly reminded of how far away the ground was.

About 30 metres up from the ground they reached a wooden platform. Heather stumbled onto it, hands shaking as she gripped onto the handbar for life. Lauren climbed up behind her.

"The next part is easier!" she called, "Just jump the gaps, you'll be fine!" Heather nodded in reply.

She set off at a sprint. The gap in the wood was coming nearer and nearer when finally she jumped.

"Well done!" called Lauren, "You cleared that one! Two more and we've done this section! Remember, don't look down." Heather obeyed, staring straight ahead.

5 minutes later, the two girls had reached two parallel bars suspended over what looked like a gap of about 6 metres.

Lauren went first. "All you need to do is hook your legs round like this, and push gently with your arms."

Heather followed and reached the other side without a scare.

"Just one more bit to go!" said Lauren grinning.

"What is it?" asked Heather, nervously.

"You see the rope?" she was pointing to a rope tied to a pole.

"Yep."

"Take the rope and jump off. Timing of release is crucial. If you jump off too early or too late, you'll land in cow manure. Are you ready?"

She nodded. "Can you go first?"

"Sorry! I'm not taking the risk of dung. I'm jumping off onto the blue mat."

"Oh." Heather peered over the edge, trying to spot where she could land. All she could see was a log floating. There was no place to land. It must be a trick.

Before Lauren could register what she was about to do she had flung herself off, rope less and was falling towards the mat.

"Well done!" congratulated Zara, after Heather had brushed off the twigs and leaves she had collected on the way down. Amy came down and landed with a thud.

"That was pretty impressive." continued Zara.


	7. Leaving Home Forever

**Sorry, I know this chapter is brief and badly written, but I had to include it someway! Chapter 8 will be better, I hope! :)**

7. Leaving Home Forever

Heather was so excited she could barely contain herself. She was in her room at the care home, about to leave it (hopefully) for the last time. The small amount of personal belongings she owned where beside her on the bed, packed neatly into a small suitcase. The only thing she might miss was Hilly. Heather was sure they would've become good friends.

That instant, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." called Heather.

Hilly entered. "When does the bus come?" she asked.

Heather was shocked. "What bus?"

"The one to CHERUB, silly!"

"They recruited you as well?"

"No, I've been there about 5 years. I'm here on a recruitment mission."

Heather couldn't believe it. Perhaps there could still be a chance for friendship between them.

"A recruitment mission? But aren't you too young to be an agent? Zara said that you had to be 10, and pass something called Basic Training."

"I'm not qualified yet, but as I've lived there for 5 years, Zara said she trusted me enough to be sent here."

"Why are you here?"

"I messed up. I was fighting a boy in the dojo and I had pinned to the floor. If I'd stopped there I would have won the point, but I laid into him. He ended up with two black eyes. He'd been teasing me for days and I'd had enough."

"Oh."

"Yep." Said Hilly. "Oh, indeed. Look! The bus is here, lets go, the sooner we leave the better."

Heather couldn't have agreed more.


End file.
